Monday, 23 November 2015

Retail giant Toys R Us has stopped categorising products as 'boys' or 'girls' toys on its website after coming under pressure from campaigners.

The company made the decision after pressure by campaign group- Let Toys Be Toys. This means from now on, shoppers will search products by age group, brand or type of toy rather than by gender.

So the company is now entirely gender neutral, both in stores and online, following complaints that categorising toys puts girls off playing with science and construction sets, and makes boys feel they can't take an interest in dolls.

A representative of the let Toys be Toys group announced the news on Twitter saying: 'Great news. Two years after our meeting, @toysrusuk has finally agreed to #lettoysbetoys & ditch the online label.'

Meanwhile toy company Mattel was praised last week for its advertisement for the new Moschino Barbie, which features a boy with a mohawk, giggling with two female friends as they played with dolls

'Moschino Barbie is so fierce!' he then says to the camera as he holds Barbie's bag.

It's the first Barbie advertisement in 54 years to ever feature a boy playing with the doll, and has been praised for challenging gender stereotypes.

Meanwhile, the group continues to campaign for all companies to be gender neutral and are calling them out those who resist on Twitter.